A self-confessed easily scared writer ventures into the haunted houses and beyond of New York.

Costa-Gavras has prodded audiences’ consciences with powerful, unblinking political tales — parables, really — since the release of "Z" in 1969.

Costa-Gavras has prodded audiences’ consciences with powerful, unblinking political tales — parables, really — since the release of "Z" in 1969. So this soft-spoken director was a natural choice to adapt and direct Rolf Hochhuth’s 1963 play The Deputy, a scathing indictment of the Catholic Church’s failure to respond to Nazi atrocities during World War II. The result, "Amen," opened Jan. 24 in New York and Los Angeles.